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And I, who would never have described myself as "Good at Math" back in my youth, look at this graphic and see this:
A lot of scores are clustered close together. The US (total) is within 1% of the OCED average for all the sturm and drang on these boards about how the US is "failing".
Well, if you try and translate it to relatable numbers, the US got 492 out of 600, which gives us a 82 on a 100 point scale, which is a B-. So yeah, not failing, but not great either. If you apply a grading curve, and take 70 (C) as average, and put the US at 1% below that, that gives us a 69, which is worse. And that's percentage based on possible scores.
If instead you look at percentile, as in how we did compared to all others, the scores were on a 212 point spread (587-375). Then our difference from the OECD average (5 points) is worth 2.4 percentiles, which gives us what, a 47.6th percentile comparatively speaking.
I agree. It made me think, did PISA only test 3 states?
I believe I read that in order to get a PISA score for a state, the state itself had to volunteer to do extra things (with extra costs and effort) to qualify to get its own score. It's kinda like if you are doing the work required to get an accreditation for a school, and then do the additional work to get a specific accreditation for just one class/program in that school as well. If you just get a school accreditation, it doesn't tell you anything about each specific class, but if you get an accreditation for one particular class/program, it will then tell you something about that class/program specifically. But you had to have it evaluated that way, both as part of the aggregate, and also by itself.
South Korea-~50 million. (Source: geoba.se) About the size of California, Washington and Oregon together (Wiki)
Japan~126 million, same source. About 40% of that of the US.
If I remember correctly, they test 15 year olds, and it has to be a representative sample of those who are enrolled in any school, public, private, vocational, or otherwise, at age 15. Countries are allowed to exclude 5% of the sample space, generally those with special needs. So it would leave out those who have dropped out of school entirely by 15, and those with special needs. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutpisa/pisafaq.htm
This reminds me of Finland, which has no standardized testing (except at the end of High School), yet kids do better... "...Compulsory schooling does not begin until age 7. “We have no hurry,†said Louhivuori. “Children learn better when they are ready. Why stress them out?†Why Are Finland's Schools Successful? | Innovation | Smithsonian
Gahh I hate when people cite the fact that Finland "begins school at age 7". It's so twisted. School is not *compulsory* in Finland until age 7, but it's not compulsory in the US until age 6 (on average, the states vary). What Finland has over the US is an extensive high quality free or reduced cost preschool system that something like 97% of all Finnish children attend at varying degrees, which can start as early as 18 months. They probably have one of the best early childhood / preschool education systems in the world.
OECD said the poorest 10% of pupils in Shanghai are as good as the most privileged 20% of teenagers in the UK and the United States. If money can't solve the problem, then it is much more difficult to solve.
I am surprised that Shanghai has "one of the most equal education systems" in the world. I thought our schools are most equal, oh well.
I don't know how you could have thought that, with all the constant fuss about inner-city schools vs. suburban schools, dating back to West Side Story and farther back, probably. The whole point of school bussing was to try to equalize the level of education.
"The OECD's education director Andreas Schleicher has shown that in maths tests the poorest 10% of pupils in Shanghai are as good as the most privileged 20% of teenagers in the UK and the United States."
This is reported by BBC news. Data are from OECD and World Bank. Although it is as legit as it can, I still find it hard to believe. Are Americans really that bad?
Notice, though, that another quote posted here shows that by 9th or 10th grade, the lower-achieving students are siphoned off to vocational programs, so that the students taking the tests that are used to determine international ranking are probably administered only to the elite that are in college-bound schools.
This reminds me of Finland, which has no standardized testing (except at the end of High School), yet kids do better... "Ninety-three percent of Finns graduate from academic or vocational high schools, 17.5 percentage points higher than the United States, and 66 percent go on to higher education, the highest rate in the European Union. Yet Finland spends about 30 percent less per student than the United States...
“We prepare children to learn how to learn, not how to take a test,” said Pasi Sahlberg, a former math and physics teacher who is now in Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture.
Teachers in Finland spend fewer hours at school each day and spend less time in classrooms than American teachers. Teachers use the extra time to build curriculums and assess their students. Children spend far more time playing outside, even in the depths of winter. Homework is minimal. Compulsory schooling does not begin until age 7. “We have no hurry,” said Louhivuori. “Children learn better when they are ready. Why stress them out?”
“Americans like all these bars and graphs and colored charts,” Louhivuori teased, as he rummaged through his closet looking for past years’ results. “Looks like we did better than average two years ago,” he said after he found the reports. “It’s nonsense. We know much more about the children than these tests can tell us.”
Finland is an odd one. Schools there don't assign homework, which seems hard to believe. Not even in math or language classes. I don't see how learning can occur without testing one's skills through homework, and practicing the new skills a bit the same way. Homework allows students to apply and practice (= reinforce) the skills they're learning. This is important in the more practically-oriented classes, like math and foreign language.
I'd like to see how they teach students to "learn how to learn", and how that solves the various problems that schools in other parts of the world face. It helps, probably, that Finland until recently has been a very homogeneous society with mutually-held values supporting education and achievement.
Finland is an odd one. Schools there don't assign homework, which seems hard to believe. Not even in math or language classes. I don't see how learning can occur without testing one's skills through homework, and practicing the new skills a bit the same way. Homework allows students to apply and practice (= reinforce) the skills they're learning. This is important in the more practically-oriented classes, like math and foreign language.
I'd like to see how they teach students to "learn how to learn", and how that solves the various problems that schools in other parts of the world face. It helps, probably, that Finland until recently has been a very homogeneous society with mutually-held values supporting education and achievement.
They do assign homework, not huge amounts but some.
I think one of the key things that helps is the huge focus on being considerate of others in daycare/preschool, following rules, making ethical decisions, which naturally leads to less disruption in class so children get to learn rather than have lessons constantly interrupted by kids who don't care (like they did in my schools in the UK, admittedly I took part too). Learning to listen to and respect teachers, helps them learn to learn. I do wonder how that'll change now as immigration grows but so far schools with a lot of migrant children do just as well.
Finland is an odd one. Schools there don't assign homework, which seems hard to believe. Not even in math or language classes. I don't see how learning can occur without testing one's skills through homework, and practicing the new skills a bit the same way. Homework allows students to apply and practice (= reinforce) the skills they're learning. This is important in the more practically-oriented classes, like math and foreign language.
I'd like to see how they teach students to "learn how to learn", and how that solves the various problems that schools in other parts of the world face. It helps, probably, that Finland until recently has been a very homogeneous society with mutually-held values supporting education and achievement.
I can think of several ways to "not have homework" the most likely of which is the work is done during a class study period under the guidance of the teacher. From my own experience and from working with my kids, I'd say most homework is pointless and often negative learning rather than valuable. If the student "gets it" then 50 repetitions is mostly busy work. If the student doesn't "get it" then 50 repetitions is reinforcing the wrong habit which the teacher then has to train out of the student -- negative training.
Learning how to learn is a critical skill that isn't taught in most US schools because it doesn't fit the drill and kill mentality. It takes a lot more time up front, but pays off in the back end when they get to high school and college.
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